A few people have asked me lately about the origin of our name, and so I thought it was worth writing a few words to help explain the background.

Standing still in business just isn’t an option

When I left the corporate world and decided to be brave and set up my own business, the first thing I was really clear about, was where I wanted to be doing business. I’d spent over 10 years doing a job where I had to travel all over the UK. Getting up at 4am on a Monday morning to fly out of Exeter airport, up to London or Manchester, staying in hotels 3 or 4 nights a week was not the life I wanted to live any more. I had an 18 month old baby boy (my gorgeous Oliver) and I was very sure that whatever business I started, it had to allow me the space and time to be a better mummy (my most important job in the world).

So the first decision that was made about the business, was that “South West” would appear in the name. This wasn’t necessarily because I understood the impact we could make across the whole South West at that point, which is how I feel about it now, it was more because if I called the business “South West” then I wouldn’t need to travel any further than Bristol. That was my logic, purely and simply. No great strategy other than where I was prepared to travel. Having said all that, we have clients all over the UK now thanks to social media and recommendations (which we’re so grateful for)

Some 18 months since starting the business, we now run Training Courses and Coaching and Business Growth Programmes in Exeter, Plymouth, Newton Abbot, Paignton, Torquay, Taunton, Bristol and parts of Cornwall. Most of our time is spent delivering in-house training with our clients’ staff – and our specialist areas are Sales, Customer Service, Leadership and Personal Brand. We’re really committed to making learning fun, relaxed and most importantly, practical and relatable to the real-world.

Momentum means “the force that allows something to grow stronger as time passes”

But a business can’t just call itself “South West” can it…. so I needed to think of a descriptive word to summarise all of the services that I felt we could offer. I felt very passionate right from the beginning, that the core purpose of our business was to help small businesses in Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Bristol to grow. I want this so badly to ensure that when Oliver grows up (he’s only 4 now) he will grow up in a more affluent and opportunity rich region.

I liked lots of descriptive words and started brainstorming and asking people’s advice on what sounded more like a reflection of the business growth services that I wanted to provide. Words like Clarity, Focus, Accelerate and many more were shortlisted, but the word Momentum seemed to resonate with more people. And so that was it, name chosen; Momentum South West was born.

That feels like such a long time ago now, because we’ve come a long way in such a short space of time. We have great support from our Business Manager, Sarah Linnington, and have welcomed a new member of staff recently, Emma Court, who has joined our mission as a Service Excellence Manager. We also are very privileged to have a great team of Partners who help us deliver bigger projects across the South West, covering HR and People Strategy, Coaching and Well-being, Data analysis and Growth accounting and much more.

Emma joins the team

I’m loving the Momentum South West journey, even when I’m working long (very long) hours, it’s such a huge responsibility to be trusted with people’s businesses and staff. The feedback is over-whelming sometimes and I can honestly say, I’m having the time of my life and enjoying every second.

Find out more about what we do here or view our list of open courses here.